


Hero Worship

by flyingllamas



Series: Tales from a lifetime ago (and ones to never be) [2]
Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: And Rommath doesn't have time for his shit, Emetophobia, Gen, Halduron would be up for that, Kael'thas wants to burn Silvermoon to the ground, Lor'themar still hasn't learned his lesson, M/M, Poor Aethas didn't sign up for this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 18:11:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13932507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flyingllamas/pseuds/flyingllamas
Summary: Rommath, surprisingly, was nowhere in sight and by going by the giggles across the training yard, that was probably not a good thing. Lor’themar strolled over and leaned on the wall, propped up by his elbows. Aethas, Kael’thas, and his small observer looked back when he peered over the wall at them, their backs against it.





	Hero Worship

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely beta'd by Kangoo and Hunterx700! <3
> 
> Written for prompt #68, "Hero".
> 
> Takes place several hundred years before canon.
> 
> As always, my tumblr is llamastheflying.tumblr.com if you wanna hit me up with any questions or complaints.

Being watched as he trained was nothing new.

 

The Farstriders, visible as they were, drew much curiosity and fanfare when they trained anywhere remotely accessible to the general public. As a lowly captain, Lor’themar was not permitted the privilege of privacy in his daily combat rituals, though the yard in which he practiced was usually empty when he used it.

 

Still, most were not persistent. After a day or so they would wander off, bored by the monotony and repetitiveness of Farstrider’s routines. Most that stayed were mooning admirers, hoping to see their favorite ranger in action.

 

Lor’themar’s small observer was not a potential paramour.

 

From what he’d seen of him, for the child was shy in his spying, he was a small thing with with a shock of corn silk hair and could not be much older than the prince. He had yet to approach Lor’themar at all after nearly two weeks, unlike other children that watched him with stars in their eyes. Even when his cover was ruined by a girl old enough to start her apprentice training, probably his sister, and made eye contact with Lor’themar as he was dragged off by a slightly crooked ear, he continued his silent vigil behind the short wall at the edge of the training grounds.

 

Lor’themar let him stay. Perhaps the child had future aspirations with the Farstriders; perhaps he was just bored. Either way, there were better ways to cause trouble than watching him train and Lor’themar figured he was doing Silvermoon a favor by keeping at least one young hellion off the streets.

 

Today though, the child was not alone. His companions were not other random younglings as he expected and Lor’themar quickly recognized them. He sheathed the blunt training sword with a sigh.

 

“Prince Kael’thas!” he called across the yard, and three pairs of eyes quickly disappeared behind the wall. He could hear giggling. 

 

Rommath, surprisingly, was nowhere in sight and by going by the giggles across the training yard, that was probably not a good thing. Lor’themar strolled over and leaned on the wall, propped up by his elbows. Aethas, Kael’thas, and his small observer looked back when he peered over the wall at them, their backs against it.

 

“Might I ask what the occasion is for your visit, sire?” he asked teasingly. Kael’thas grinned up at him cheekily, his smile pitted by two missing teeth. His companion, Aethas, was not so happy to see Lor’themar. The poor thing’s ears were pinned back against his head and he shook. The third child just looked at him with a fire in his eyes that promised hell if Lor’themar tried to remove them.

 

“Rommath’s gone!” Kael’thas announced cheerily, as if that explained everything.

 

“I fail to see why I’m graced with your presence by virtue of his absence, my prince,” said Lor’themar. “Where is he? And why are you here?”

 

“Well, he’s gone at some big test thing with Magistrix Telestra,” said Kael’thas, “so he can become an arcanist. He left us with our regular tutors.”

 

“And why aren’t you with them?”

 

“They’re boring,” Kael’thas said. “Rommath told us we should start working on basic combat stuff soon anyway. He was thinking about asking you for help.”

 

“Really? He was said that?” Kael’thas nodded seriously. 

 

“I thought we’d get started early so he has nothing to complain about when he comes back,” Kael’thas continued. “He whines a lot. Plus he’s going to be so impressed when I can kick his butt when he gets back.”

 

The other child nodded sagely in agreement. Poor Aethas still looked like he was about to faint, pale as he was beneath his many freckles. 

 

“And you?” Lor’themar asked, turning his attention to the last boy. “Who are you?”

 

The boy scrambled to his feet and puffed out his small chest.

 

“My name is Halduron Brightwing and I want to be Ranger General someday!” the child announced. The Brightwings were a familiar family to Lor’themar, lower than his own in standing but respectable in their own right.

 

“He’s our new friend!” Kael’thas added, scrambling up to his feet as well to loop an arm around the other child’s shoulders. 

 

“As of what, fifteen minutes ago?” asked Lor’themar. To be young again and unworried by the political intrigue of every social interaction, he thought to himself.

 

“Yes!” Kael’thas said and then thought a moment. “Maybe less than that. Maybe like five. Anyway, you’re not allowed to kick us or him out of the training grounds.”

 

“I’m not, am I?”

 

“Nope,” said Kael’thas. “I’m ordering you, as Crown Prince of the kingdom of Quel’thalas, to let us and Halduron stay and to train us.”

 

Lor’themar stared the trio down. Aethas was literally vibrating and looking quite green.

 

“...please?” Kael’thas finished and stuck out his bottom lip in a pout.

 

Well, what could go wrong? If he kept them there, there was a much slimmer chance of Rommath returning to the ashes of the city. Maybe he’d get a medal from King Anasterian for averting the potential firestorm his son brought with him wherever he went. 

 

“Fine,” he said. Halduron and Kael’thas cheered.

 

Aethas threw up. 

 

Halduron and Kael’thas made disgusted faces and equal noises as Lor’themar patted the poor boy on the head.

 

“You can go back, Aethas,” Lor’themar said. “If your tutor needs an explanation, I would be happy to provide her with one.”

 

Aethas opened his mouth and looked as though he were going to agree, but it snapped shut when he looked over to Kael’thas. The prince had a thunderous look upon his face that promised absolute misery for Aethas if he bowed out.

 

“I...I think I’ll stay,” he stuttered out. “Thank you though, Captain Theron.”

 

Lor’themar shook his head. Ever polite, even in the face of those he ran around with.

 

“You can just call me Lor’themar,” he said. “Now, we’ll start with simple exercises to get your bodies used to moving in new ways. If you catch on quick enough, we may have time to go through some basic forms. I’ll broker no whining or complaining, though. You asked for this.”

 

Kael’thas and Halduron easily hopped over the wall but Aethas, smaller than his friends, needed a little bit of help. The boys were easily set up and other than kicking feet farther apart and adjusting stance, they took well to following Lor’themar’s instructions. Probably Rommath’s influence on at least two of them, he thought. Halduron was determined to listen if only to get himself closer to his dream. 

 

Lor’themar originally planned to mosey down to one of the nearby taverns, have a few rounds, and then maybe find a partner for the evening (though steadily, his routine was getting more and more unsatisfying) on his days off, but he didn’t mind spending it this way either. Surely it was more productive than boozing and sleeping his way through his relief days, and it was something he wouldn’t feel with a pounding head the next morning.

 

True to their word, the boys did not complain or whine (though frail Aethas ever teetered on the edge of fainting). Lor’themar let them take a break in the shade when the sun was at its highest in the sky and made sure they downed a water skin each as well as some food from a nearby street vendor. 

 

He turned them back out into the yard when they started shoving at one another beneath one of the trees and had them help set up training dummies nearly twice their height. The wooden swords the most junior of the Farstriders used were too heavy for them with their iron cores, but someone had left plain wooden rods in the back of their small, shed-like armory in the training yard. 

 

Though at the first the boys spent more time trying to hit one another with their ‘swords’, some amount of training was accomplished. By late afternoon, the boys had a good handle on thrusting out with a sword as well as a basic block. Kael’thas, at least, learned the virtues of listening to Lor’themar’s instructions when a wild swing of his ‘sword’ nearly caused a training dummy to topple on top of him. Both Aethas and Halduron howled with laughter when the prince disappeared in a flurry of hay from the fallen dummy.

  
  


It was not entirely surprising when Rommath stumbled into the yard out of thin air as Lor’themar started to wrap up their session. He seemed breathless and frantic, utterly unaware of Lor’themar’s presence as he scanned the yard. He breathed out a sigh of relief when he located Kael’thas and Aethas.

 

“Thank the light,” he breathed out as Aethas dropped his stick and ran to Rommath’s side. He buried his small face into Rommath’s now-red robes. Rommath’s hand buried into Aethas’ equally red hair and ruffled it. “No one knew where you went, I feared the worst.”

 

“We were fine,” Kael’thas told his caretaker haughtily, crossing his arms. His training rod protruded from the fold of his arms and was nearly against his face. Halduron ignored their visitor and kept at his exercise. “Lor’themar was keeping an eye on us and we learned more than if we had stayed at the palace.”

 

Rommath’s eyes snapped to Lor’themar at long last and he was rewarded with a wolfish grin.

 

“You,” he said, storming up to the Captain. Aethas stumbled as the robes were yanked out of his grip. “This is your fault. Why did you not return them?”

 

“And have them run off again another adventure? I thought it best to watch over them. No harm came to them here.”

 

“It didn’t, but it might have!” Rommath snapped, fist balling in the neckline of Lor’themar’s shirt. “They were better off protected by the wards of the palace!”

 

“Were they?” Lor’themar challenged.He pried off Rommath’s fingers. “If they were able to slip their tutor’s leash so easily, then who might have found them just as easily? Is that not why you tend to them? Who better to watch them, then, than one of the Rangers’ numbers?”

 

Rommath didn’t seem to have an answer ready for him. He shook his head sharply and huffed out growl as he stepped back and away from the captain. Lor’themar noticed that his new robes did not yet have his distinctive collar and quietly appreciated the view the cut of the robes provided of his graceful neck. Rommath noticed his gaze and shot him a pointed glare. 

 

“It’s your fault anyway, Rommath,” Kael’thas piped up and Rommath wheeled around on the prince.

 

“How is this my fault, you little hellspawn?” he hissed. Aethas wilted under his tone and Lor’themar offered out a hand to the child. His usual barrier otherwise resembling an erupting volcano, Aethas ran and thankfully hid behind Lor’themar’s legs. Halduron had finally stopped his training and seemed to be considering a similar course of action.

 

“You’re the one who said we should train with Lor’themar,” said Kael’thas. He had stormed up until he was toe to toe with the mage. “We were only doing what you said.”

 

“First, Prince Kael’thas, do not say ‘we’,” Rommath snapped back, leaning down to glare at the small, fiery prince. Halduron had given in and joined Aethas behind Lor’themar’s legs, hoping to be shielded from the argument. “I am  _ fully  _ aware that Aethas was not involved in this scheme. He at least has some moral compunction and fear for his ability to reach adulthood, unlike you.

 

“Second, I suggested that  _ to your father _ , not to you, and the matter was still being discussed!” he continued. “It was by no means permission to run off on your tutors! You nearly stopped their hearts when they realized your absence!”

 

“Not my fault they’re so old,” Kael’thas said with a sniff. “Maybe they’re better off dying if they’re so fragile.”

 

Lor’themar couldn’t take it anymore. He bent in half and wheezed out a laugh, to horror of the two children using him as a shield. Both Rommath and Kael’thas glared at him.

 

“I’m sorry,” he said, wheezing. “You’re arguing with a child half your age--”

 

“A third! I’m not that young!”

 

“--a third your age, and you’re taking it seriously.  _ And he’s winning _ .”  

 

He barked out more laughter as both Halduron and Aethas started giggling behind him as well. Rommath’s face, already red from anger, flushed a deeper red in embarrassment. Kael’thas looked rather pleased with himself. Rommath turned to Kael’thas once more.

 

“We will discuss this more in detail later,” he hissed at the prince, who seemed rather unimpressed by the glare that would make most grown men piss themselves. At that point, Rommath noticed Halduron. “Please tell me there’s not another one. I can barely handle one, let alone two, and especially not three.”

 

“It’s possible,” Lor’themar said as he looked down at Halduron. The child looked back up at him with pleading eyes. “I’m going to be escorting him home tonight and discussing this with his parents, as he wishes to become a Farstrider some day. If the king is amenable to it, Kael’thas and Aethas may join us as well.”

 

“We’re going to learn how to shoot bows, right?” Halduron asked frantically, as if the idea hadn’t occurred to him before that moment. “All good Farstriders need to be able to shoot a bow!”

 

“Right you are, little one. Rest assured, I may not be the best shot but you’ll at least be a better shot than Rommath over there.”

 

Rommath’s face contorted with rage and he quickly began tracing out teleportation runes. He all but shoved Kael’thas through the portal first and held his hand out for Aethas, who dashed to his side once more, vindicated in his involvement in today’s fiasco. Rommath helped him through the portal and faced Lor’themar.

 

“I would say I hope not to see you again, but I feel as though that’s hoping for too much.”

 

“As Kael’thas said, you’re the one who got yourself into this mess,” Lor’themar pointed out. “Though…” His voice dropped into a purr, “I’m rather flattered that you judged my prowess adequate. It must have been your view underneath me.”

 

If possible, Rommath’s face flushed even darker and he nearly dashed through the portal, swearing. The portal blipped out of existence and Lor’themar chuckled, shaking his head.

 

“That guy was weird,” Halduron said.

 

“He is a little odd, yes,” Lor’themar acknowledged.

 

“I don’t really know what you guys were talking about at the end but it sounded gross,” the child said and Lor’themar felt like kicking himself. If he was going to train children in the future, he needed to start watching what he said. “Do you really think my parents are gonna let me train with you?”

 

“Well, with a companion like your new friend, the prince, I don’t think they would say no,” Lor’themar said. Halduron stared at the ground suddenly and his face almost turned sullen. “What’s the matter, little one?”

 

“I...thank you,” Halduron said and Lor’themar quirked an eyebrow. “All the other rangers either chased me off or didn’t have time for me asking them questions. It’s why I didn’t wanna say anything to you. I figured you’d let me stay if I didn’t bug you. But now...now you’re letting me train with you. Thank you so much!”

 

Lor’themar ruffled the small elf’s hair and sighed. The other Rangers could be somewhat cold or distant, especially if they judged something beneath them. It was a shame they judged Halduron to be so.

 

“No need to thank me,” Lor’themar said. “You could help me pick up the training yard though, before we go. That would be enough for me. Then, I’ll see you home.”

 

As Halduron gathered the boys’ training rods, Lor’themar watched and wondered what he had gotten himself into.


End file.
